Tourism has been my passion and my profession since 1990. I began in La Plata, Argentina, at Euromar Turismo, the agency owned by my beloved father, Orazio Filippo Greco, before continuing in Italy with Andina Viaggi. Merlintravel grows from that experience and the desire to keep exploring and sharing the world. The journey continues…
Let’s see where it takes us.
Tourism has been my passion and my profession since 1990. I began in La Plata, Argentina, at Euromar Turismo, the agency owned by my beloved father, Orazio Filippo Greco, before continuing in Italy with Andina Viaggi. Merlintravel grows from that experience and the desire to keep exploring and sharing the world. The journey continues…
Let’s see where it takes us.
Daunian and Messapian worlds, Roman roads, Romanesque ports, Frederick II, olive plains and two seas.
Apulia is a long Mediterranean threshold, not a single whitewashed coast.
Known locally and nationally as Puglia, the region stretches from Gargano and the Tavoliere through Bari and Valle d’Itria to Salento. Archaeology, eastern-facing ports, pilgrimage, Norman and Swabian monuments, dry-stone agriculture and contemporary towns create several souths within one region.
Daunians, Peucetians and Messapians preceded Roman Apulia. Byzantine, Lombard, Norman, Swabian, Angevin, Aragonese and Ottoman-facing histories then accumulated along a long coast.
Distinct pre-Roman cultures left settlements, ceramics, tombs and sculpted stone across the region.
The Via Appia, ports, colonies and farms connected the Adriatic and Ionian coasts to Rome.
Long competition between powers shaped towns, rock churches and eastern cultural connections.
Cathedrals, castles and Castel del Monte turned Apulia into a key landscape of medieval monarchy.
Fortifications and port cities record conflict and exchange across the Adriatic and Ionian seas.
Large estates, peasant movements, modern cities and tourism transformed twentieth-century Puglia.
The atlas travels the full length from the Tremiti and Gargano to Bari, Castel del Monte, Taranto, Valle d’Itria, Lecce and Otranto.
Map markers identify the main places covered by the guides.
The four routes follow ancient cultural areas and maritime orientations instead of compressing Apulia into Salento alone.
Forests, pilgrimage, sea caves, Daunian sites and Tremiti islands define a varied northern peninsula.
Romanesque ports, castles and the Murgia connect commerce, pilgrimage and royal power.
Trulli, masserie, olive landscapes and Taranto’s deep Greek history open the centre.
Baroque stone, Messapian towns, coastal towers and Otranto’s eastern horizon form the southern circuit.
Every gateway now leads to a complete ten-chapter guide, with one distinct image for every chapter.
St Nicholas, the old city, castle, seafront and a modern port capital facing east.
Open Bari and the Adriatic capitalRoman remains and a regional Baroque carved in warm Lecce limestone.
Open LecceTrulli within a broader cultivated system of towns, masserie and dry-stone fields.
Open Alberobello and Valle d’ItriaFrederick II’s castle within a limestone plateau of pastoral, urban and agricultural routes.
Open Castel del Monte and Alta MurgiaForest, pilgrimage, sea cliffs, coastal towns and an Adriatic island chain.
Open Gargano and TremitiWhite towns, monumental olive groves, ports, farm complexes and protected Adriatic shores.
Open Ostuni and BrindisiCathedral mosaics, fortifications, coastal towers and Italy’s eastern horizon.
Open Otranto and eastern SalentoGreek Taras, MArTA collections, two seas, maritime life and the Ionian hinterland.
Open Taranto and the Ionian coastMonuments matter, but so do languages, crafts, routes, rituals and working landscapes.
Bari, Trani, Bitonto and other cities developed powerful medieval stone architecture linked to sea routes.
UNESCO recognition concerns an architectural tradition embedded in land division and agricultural work.
Monte Sant’Angelo, Bari and the Via Francigena del Sud connect local sanctuaries to wider Christian routes.
Ancient groves, mills, bread, pasta and masserie express both continuity and current environmental strain.
Land, water and ecological systems are read together with the communities that have learned to inhabit them.
Foresta Umbra, karst, cliffs and coastal wetlands form an exceptional northern peninsula.
Open limestone plateau, steppe habitats and pastoral routes surround farms and castles.
Dunes, wetlands, seagrass and traditional agriculture meet along protected shores.
Adriatic and Ionian coasts differ in geology, settlement and maritime orientation across the long region.
The English page uses Apulia while acknowledging Puglia as the region’s Italian name. Trulli, masserie and olive groves are explained as building and production systems, not decorative symbols.
The journey continues.
Return to the Italy regional atlas